Simple and Straightforward (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)
by ilna
Summary: Steve and Catherine have an appointment to select the invitations for their wedding.
**Notes:** Mari and Sammy – I think this one needs "collaboration" in the title. Thank you for the brainstorming and the absolutely fantastic lines and exchanges! Truly a group effort!

Readers and REAL McRollers – April 30th will be here before we know it! Thank you for coming along with us as we near our second anniversary. Your support continues to amaze me in the most heartwarming way.

 **Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 _Simple and Straightforward (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)_

Catherine poked her head into Steve's office. "Hey, are you ready?" she asked.

Standing by his desk with Chin, Steve looked up from the maps spread out in front of them and raised his eyebrows.

She motioned in the general direction of the doors. "We've got that appointment. The invitations?"

"Oh, right," he said, straightening. He looked at his watch.

"If we're going, we need leave now or we're gonna be late."

"Yeah," he agreed and looked at Chin. "You good here?"

"Yeah, yeah, go ahead," Chin said. "I'll get in touch with Duke about posting unis at those three locations."

Steve nodded as Chin gathered up the maps.

"Enjoy," he said, looking at the two of them.

Steve hesitated a beat, but nodded, albeit with a trace of reluctance.

Catherine held the door open as Chin and then Steve stepped out of the office.

"See you tomorrow," Chin called over his shoulder. He grinned and sing-songed, "Pick out something nice."

Steve sighed as he locked his office. He glanced at Catherine as they walked toward the double doors.

"Remind me again why we're not just emailing people."

She rolled her eyes. "We're not emailing people to come to our wedding, Steve."

"What? It's simple, straightforward. Efficient."

"Granted." She stopped at the doors, turning to him. "But it's not . . . lasting."

"Lasting?"

She paused, searching for the right words.

"Think about the mementos in your grandparents' memory box," she said and watched as his expression softened. "Their wedding invitation. A little yellowed with age, but still there. It's simple and straightforward, too. And beautiful and lasting. I want something like that to look back on years from now. You know?"

He touched her arm. "Hey, it's something you want to do, that's enough for me," he said sincerely.

She smiled, and he nodded toward the hall. "Let's go."

Fifteen minutes later they stood in one of the offices at the Ko Olina Resort while Boris' assistant Gus stepped into the back briefly to retrieve some samples.

"You know whatever you pick is fine with me," Steve said, his arms folded across his chest.

"Weren't you the one with a whole theory on the meaning of 'it's fine'?" Catherine asked, facing him.

"But when _I_ say 'it's fine,' it's not the same as when _you_ say 'it's fine.' "

She sighed, smiling. "I know you don't really want to do this."

His arms dropped to his sides. "It's not that I don't want to do it. It's just . . ." He waved a hand. "Cards, invitations . . . stuff like that . . . they're not really my thing."

"I know," she said and put her hands on his arms. "And I appreciate that you're here. It's important to me that we pick things like this out together."

He nodded, smiling at her, and they both turned as the door opened and Gus returned.

"Here we are," the thin twenty-year-old said, approaching them with a spring in his step. "Commander, Lieutenant, please have a seat. I'm quite excited to show you these samples. Boris let me do the designs. I've been working on them for the last two weeks."

He motioned them over to a comfortable love seat and sat in the adjacent armchair.

"I composed the text based on the information you provided, and created several invitations for you, some of them quite unique," he said, a twinkle in his eye.

"None of them are musical, right?" Steve asked.

Gus looked surprised and intrigued. "No, but I could adapt them with a music chip . . ."

"That . . . no," Steve said. "Absolutely not."

Catherine chuckled. She nodded to the folder Gus had placed on the coffee table in front of them. "Let's see what you've got, Gus."

"Why don't we start with something fun?" Gus suggested eagerly, opening the folder and taking out the first sample. He slid the folder back and placed the invitation down so they could see it.

"Wow," Steve said, his eyes widening.

"That's . . . colorful," Catherine added.

Gus smiled brightly. "Well, we are in Hawaii." He gestured at the invitation. "I used a light purple for the card since that's your preferred color, and transitioned from a darker purple all through the color spectrum for the two pineapples."

Steve leaned close to Catherine's ear and muttered, "It's not too late to use email."

Catherine smiled questioningly at Gus. "Has Boris seen these?"

"Most of them," Gus said with an energetic nod. "But this one I just thought of yesterday."

"I don't think it's right for us," she said diplomatically.

Gus deflated slightly, but brightened as he pulled the next sample from the folder.

"Oh, how about this one, then? Since you have your ranks and branch of service on the invitations, I thought maybe something like this . . ."

They looked at the beige invitation with a faceless bride in a white dress and a groom in a naval uniform to either side of the heavy calligraphy in the center.

"We appreciate the thought, but . . ." Catherine began.

"Neither of us will be in uniform for the ceremony," Steve finished, though not unkindly.

"That was another one Boris hadn't seen . . ." Gus admitted sheepishly, moving it to the side with the pineapple invitation.

"Are these kinds of themes common?" Catherine asked.

"Oh, yes," Gus enthused. "My roommate is getting married this summer and they're having a superhero wedding."

"Yeah, we're not doing that," Steve deadpanned.

Catherine grinned at him. "You could borrow Danny's superhero cape."

"You mean his vampire cape?"

"Whatever you want to call it . . ."

"We're not doing that," Steve repeated.

Gus looked back and forth between them, trying to keep up with their banter.

Steve smirked. "Although if you want to wear a Wonder Woman costume one night, I wouldn't object."

Catherine snorted.

He nodded at her. "You do have those boots."

"Focus, Steve," she said, barely able to contain her chuckle.

They looked back expectantly at Gus who blinked in surprise. He flushed and said, "We also had quite a lovely Disney-themed wedding here last month."

Steve quirked an eyebrow. "Do we really seem like Disney-themed wedding people to you?"

Gus swallowed nervously. "No, but you asked about themes . . ."

"I think we've gotten a little off track here," Catherine said with a smile. "What else did you want to show us?"

Gus pulled another invitation from the folder and smiled more comfortably upon seeing it.

"Oh, now this one is very popular with a lot of our older–" He stopped as both Steve and Catherine raised their eyebrows. "What I mean to say is . . . more _mature_ . . . couples."

Steve straightened visibly even as Catherine put a hand on his leg to forestall him. " 'Mature'?" he repeated.

"I mean . . . for a . . . a second wedding or . . . or a vow renewal . . ." Gus fumbled with his words.

"It's not a second wedding," Steve stated. "Or a vow renewal."

Gus gulped, attempting to salvage the situation. "Of course. I know it's not . . . I . . . that is, this is the invitation my parents' friends used when they got married last year, so I thought . . ."

Steve's eyebrows shot up even higher. "Your _parents'_ friends? You think we're your parents' age?"

"Steve–" Catherine began as Gus looked frantically between them.

"Listen," Steve said confidently. "Name the competition, I'll show you who's 'mature.' "

Catherine shook her head with a sigh, pressing her lips tightly together to hide her smile.

At that moment, Boris came in, smiling apologetically. "Commander, Lieutenant, I'm so sorry I'm late. I was addressing a few final details for an event this weekend." He stood beside Gus' chair. "How are we doing?"

"Apparently we remind Gus here of his parents," Steve said dryly.

Boris' expression was a cross between confused and stricken, and he looked at Gus who stared back, shrugging helplessly.

"It seems we're . . . 'mature,' " Steve clarified.

"Evidence to the contrary at the moment," Catherine interjected.

Steve looked at her. "What?"

" 'Name the competition'?" she quoted, and he nodded purposely.

Boris looked between them apprehensively, but relaxed when he saw that Catherine's amusement was genuine and Steve was fighting his own smile at her reaction.

"To answer your question," Catherine said, turning back to Boris, "we haven't found what we're looking for just yet, despite Gus' enthusiasm for themes."

Boris looked suspiciously at Gus who winced and admitted, "I may have added a few designs after our last meeting."

With an indulgent head shake, Boris took a seat in the armchair opposite his assistant and smiled at Steve and Catherine. "Let's show you some ideas that may be more to your tastes."

"I don't know," Steve said. "If we wait a little longer maybe we'll qualify for the AARP discount."

Catherine rolled her eyes. "Steve."

"You're right, we need to make a decision while we can still have solid food at the reception."

She raised an eyebrow. "Are you finished?"

He paused and looked up, his eyes squinting in thought.

"Yeah," he said finally with a nod. "That's all I got."

She laughed, unable to hold it any longer.

Gus relaxed as Steve grinned at her laughter, and Boris pulled another invitation from the folder.

"This one employs a simple, yet elegant font, and the large ampersand with your first names symbolizes the joining of your lives." He watched their faces and expertly read their reactions as positive but not quite there yet. "Gus used some of the flower options we discussed for this one," he continued, taking out a purple invitation. "But not in an overbearing or ostentatious way."

Catherine nodded her agreement, looking at the floral outlines in two of the corners that complimented the calligraphy.

Boris laid a final sample in front of them. "And this one entwines your initials just as your lives will be entwined."

After a moment, Catherine motioned to the last three invitations and said, "These are lovely, but not really us."

Steve gave a single nod of agreement.

Boris leaned forward, not at all discouraged. "What _do_ you think you'd like?"

Catherine looked at Steve, then back at Boris and Gus. "I know Steve will say whatever I want is fine."

Steve nodded, and she looked back at him, taking his hand.

"But what I want is something that reflects us both. That reflects _us_."

With a soft smile, Steve held her gaze and lifted her hand, bringing it to his lips gently.

As he did, the blue in Catherine's ring caught Boris' eye. He looked down, nodding subtly at Gus to give them their moment, and when he looked back at the couple, his smile was excited.

"I have an idea. If you could give me an hour or so, I'll email you a sample. I think I may have your perfect invitation."

Gus looked at his boss curiously, but Boris just smiled back enigmatically.

"Okay," Catherine said, moving to stand. "Thank you both for all your hard work on these."

"Can I just . . ." Steve shifted the discarded invitations and grabbed the one with the pineapples. "I'm gonna take this one." He grinned. "Save it for Danny."

Catherine laughed.

"Ohh, do you think he'll like it?" Gus asked hopefully.

Steve snorted. "He'll love it."

* * *

An hour later, Steve and Catherine were finishing dinner when both their phones buzzed with a text message from Boris.

Steve set his phone down, electing to look over Catherine's shoulder as she pulled up the email.

" 'Inspired by your ring,' " she read, " 'which I've always thought reflected the two of you perfectly.' "

She opened the attachment and let out a little gasp.

"Oh, that's . . ." she breathed, her eyes welling unexpectedly. "I know the text is exactly the same as the others but somehow . . . it feels different to see it on this one."

"Yeah," he agreed quietly.

They re-read the words in precise script, white on a navy blue background. Subtle purple and white outlined the classically styled invitation.

"Simple," she said, glancing at him over her shoulder with a slightly teasing smile. "Straightforward."

"Beautiful," he said, his eyes soft as they met hers. "And lasting."

She paused, blinking at the tears in her eyes. "What do you think?"

Before answering, he leaned forward and kissed her.

"I think we're ready to invite people to our wedding."

* * *

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